The Sri Lanka Netball National Championship, organized by the Sri Lanka Netball Federation, was held at the Anuradhapura Public Grounds during the past weekend. Over the course of the two day event, 18 teams from all over the country went head to head to challenge for Sri Lanka’s biggest domestic championship.
Sri Lanka Navy emerged victorious after an extremely hard fought battle with the Sri Lanka Air Force team in the finals of the competition, ultimately coming out on top by just one goal. In fact, the teams were so evenly matched that extra time was required to decide the match.
Air Force began the match well, leading the scores in the 1st quarter 12-9. However, Navy upped their game and both teams scored 11 goals each in both the 2nd and the 3rd quarters. In the final quarter, the tables were turned on the Air Force, with the Navy team scoring 13 goals to the former’s 10. As a result, both teams were deadlocked on 44 goals apiece when time was called on the final quarter.
The match went into extra time and continued to be an extremely tense affair, with neither team able to gain a clear advantage. Ultimately, the Navy team managed to clinch the win, outscoring their opponents by 9 goals to 8; the final score read 53-52 in favour of Navy.
The third place play-off, between the Sri Lanka Ports Authority and Kothalawala Defense University, turned out to be an anti-climactic matchup with Ports Authority registering a comfortable 45-18 victory.
The championships was also used to pick out promising players under the age of 30 in order to strengthen the national pool; it is rumoured that 59 such young players have been chosen during the tournament.
Dulangi Wannithilaka, who recently starred in Sri Lanka’s title winning campaign at the Asian Youth Netball Championship, was in top form once again and was named “Netball Queen” of the Championship. The Navy players dominated the individual awards rankings, winning 3 of the 4 awards on offer.
In the quarter-finals, Navy beat Badulla DA 37-3, Kothalawala Defense University beat Matale DA 20-7, Air Force beat HNB 26-22 and Port Authority beat University of Rajarata by 49-9 and qualified for the semi-finals.
In the first semi-final, Navy beat KDU by 54-12 and in the second semi-final Air Force beat Port Authority by 40-25 and qualified for the finals.Third place was won by SL Port Authority by beating KDU. The score was 48-18.
Awards
Champions – Sri Lanka Navy
Runners up – Sri Lanka Air Force
3rd Place – Sri Lanka Ports Authority
Netball Queen – Dulangi Wannithilaka (Navy)
Best Shooter – Lakmali Bandara (Navy)
Best Midfield Player – Thilini Wattegedara (Air Force)
Best Defender – Deepika Dharshani (Navy)
